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H96 PRO H3 TV Dongle Review

Today we want to show you a review, not Android TV Box, but Android TV Dongle called H96 PRO H3 powered by Amlogic S905X. How TV Stick fell in the tests you will find in the PRO H96 H3 review. Together we follow the standard stages of our review. We invite you to read.

First impressions, settings,overview of features

The H96 Pro H3 is well made and looks aesthetically pleasing. The TV Stick format will probably appeal to people who need to take the device with them, the pocket size makes it easier to carry the device. As we wrote at the beginning of his heart is Amlogic S905X Quad Core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU up to 2GHz which supports 4K HDR, 4K VP9, H.265 10-bit 4K*[email protected] and HD Audio (7.1CH) passthrough. Device runs on Android 7.1.2. The TV Dongle has an HDMI male connector, on one of the sides, there are a Micro SD card slot and a micro USB port for powering the device. The TV Stick also has two USB 2.0 ports. At the rear of the device and on one side there are holes for better ventilation.

The device can be connected in two ways. Directly plug into the HDMI port on the TV, or use the included HDMI cable. Connection options below.

The H96 PRO H3 has a good-looking and easy to use UI with quick access to the most common applications. Unfortunately, the device works only in the resolution of 1280x720px, there is also no possibility of changing the resolution and adjusting the displayed image. Everything worked stable but not very fast. TV Stick supports DLNA and Miracast. Wifi connection could be faster, but unfortunately, it is not (WiFi: Download – 3.13Mbps Upload – 15.51Mbps).H96 PRO H3 supports Netflix between 480p – 720p, after some time the resolution can jump on 720p.Youtube only 720p.In addition to the standard keyboard and mouse, we use alsoiPega PG-9076 gamepad(paired via bluetooth). The H96 PRO H3 TV Dongle has exactly 14.68GB storage (in the specification is 16GB). The TV Stick comes with a pre-installed TVMC center (based on Kodi 17.3 with add-ons) and Movie player. We also installed Kodi 17.6 for tests. If you need to control TV Box via smartphone, you can use a great application called CetusPlay (Install CetusPlay On TV/Box app on TV box and open, Install CetusPlay on a smartphone). Most Google Play store apps (for testing) were not compatible with the TV Stick. We had to install them from external memory. On H96 PRO H3 you can play without a problem just connect gamepad or keyboard. We used iPega PG-9076gamepad (paired via bluetooth). Beach Buggy Racing works without problem, even with high resolution works trouble free. Below some screenshots.

Operating system and components

The H96 PRO H3 TV Dongle runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat and the Linux Kernel version 3.14.29. TV Stick comes with firmware build number S905x013-userdebug 7.1.2 NHG47L 20170907test-keys and is equipped with a SoC Amlogic S905X Quad Core ARM Cortex-A53, CPU speed between 100MHz and 1.20GHz. On the following screens, you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app). After using the DRM info (app) we know that TV Sticksupports only Google Widevine Modular DRM and CENC ClearKey. The device also has root access.Below screenshots.

Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing, we use the AnTuTuVideoTester3.0 app andAnTuTuBenchmark 6.3.5. We were unable to perform tests via Antutu Video tester. Application stuck on one of the samples. Big surprise, video playback by TVMC center (based on Kodi 17.3 with add-ons) and Kodi 17.6 Krypton runs smoothly and stable. The H96 PRO H3 without problem plays movies with the resolution of 480p, 720p and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecs videos such as H.264, H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. Also, we tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of movies), ISO and also videos was played fine. The tested TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) almost without any major problems. The following table of video samples tested for TVMC. We tried to play VP9 4K video and also runs smoothly.

Conclusions

The H96 PRO H3 is a TV Stick which performance is not stunning, it has a resolution of the only 1280x720p, it can only play streaming up to 720p and has slow WiFi. A big surprise is stable and correct playback of various and large video files even in 4K @60ps. TV Stick is certainly aimed at people who need to take the device on a trip, to the office or occasionally use it at home. If you really need a TV Dongle device and you care about watching movies from an external drive, then H96 PRO H3 will be for you. If you are counting on 1080p streaming and fast Wifi, look for another device, preferably in the TV Box format.